From one of our most imaginative and inventive writers, a crystalline collection of perfectly modulated, sometimes harrowing, and often hilarious investigations into the multifaceted ways in which human beings perceive each other and themselves. A couple suspects their friends think them boring; a woman resolves to see herself as nothing but then concludes shes set too high a goal; and a funeral home receives a letter rebuking it for linguistic errors. In these and other stories, Lydia Davis once again proves herself to be one of the quiet giants in the world of American fiction (Los Angeles Times).